Because of space limitations and new developments that I wanted to address, I was not able to include in last week’s column a report about the principal reason for the trip that Nick and I took to Australia – to attend live and in person two important sports events.

We attended the Australia/England Cricket at the Sydney Cricket Ground. It was the third day of the Fifth Test match.

As you may know, Test matches consist of five “games” each played over five days in five different cities. Australia and England have been playing these Tests on alternate years since the middle of the 19th century more than 150 years ago. We were fortunate to sit with knowledgeable cricket gurus who made certain that we understood not only the rules (complicated) but also the intricate strategies (complex and opaque).

The visit to Melbourne also included a tour of the Melbourne Cricket Ground, a magnificent facility that seats more than 110,000 and includes the Australian Sports Museum where I scored a Melbourne Cricket Club shirt.

Nearby the MCG is the fabulous tennis facility that hosts the Australian Open Tennis Tournament, part of the tennis grand slam. We attended some qualifying matches in which players compete for spots in the main draw which consists of 128 men and 128 women competing for prizes of over $4 million for the champs.

Players who lose in the first round win as well – they earn over $100,000 just for competing. But these are the best of the best. Many have spent years in training at their own (or their parents’) expense.

We attended the Opening Ceremonies hosted by Rod Laver in the main stadium, “Rod Laver Arena”, that featured a doubles exhibition between retired champs Roger Federer and Andre Agassi. And then we saw the top seeded woman, Arina Sabalenka of Minsk, Belarus, and man, Carlos Alcaraz of El Palmar, Murcia, Spain trounce their first round opponents.

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One other interesting thing about Australia – Uber rides are much cheaper than taxis as was the case here when Uber first got started. Importantly, most Uber drivers use small electric vehicles. These are beautiful small cars made in China. They are comfortable, have longer ranges and better visual displays than electric vehicles available here and they are much cheaper than ours. But these cars are made in China and are simply not now available in the U.S.

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One of the great things about living in the Beverly Hills Bubble is all the interesting people that you meet. I recently met Treva Brandon Scharf [BHHS 1981] at the home of my friend Lauren Petkin [BHHS 1976]. Lauren is a highly sought after and experienced family law specialist who provides mediation services and nuptial agreements. She also happens to be the significant other of my brother Daniel.

Treva is a long time resident and active community member who has written a fascinating book with a fascinating title: “Done Being Single – A Late Bloomer’s Guide to Love.” This is Treva’s very personal no holds barred story of becoming a first time bride at age 51. As she tells it, “before I got married, I had more than paid my dues in the dating world. I had countless romances and relationships, boyfriends and breakups, heartaches and heartbreaks. I loved and lost, dumped and got dumped, was victim and villain. I took some hard knocks and threw a few knockout punches. I saw it all, dated it all and lived to tell. Then, literally on my 50th birthday…, I met a most interesting creature who would change my life forever.” And, six months later she married him.

This book grew out of her blog “The Late Blooming Bride” which was a way to document her journey. She describes the book as “A memoir, a singles survival guide, a dating handbook for millennials, a morale boost for midlifers, a love letter to late bloomers, and an operating manual for anyone at any age looking to achieve their personal best in life and love.”

Now the very happily married Treva is a relationship coach and my guess, from reading this book, is that she is very good at it.

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The California Post is here! The first issue was out on Monday January 26.

And it is as promised. Provocative with a really good sports section and all of the television programming listing.

On Tuesday January 27, there were at least 25 copies on display at our newsstand (formerly known as “Al’s” but Al Brooks has retired) on South Beverly Drive. I love the California Post (as a gossip sheet, NOT its politics) and am very hopeful that it will survive. I would put the over/under # of days until it closes at around 300. I would love to take the over but given what is happening in print media these days, I would be hesitant. Also, I called the # for circulation at around 9p on Wednesday January 28 to see if I could order an online subscription (at $3.75 per print copy and then factoring the drive time to Al’s it is likely that I will miss a few copies) and was answered by a recording that told me to call back during “normal business hours.” Not a good start.

But in addition to former LA Times Dodgers reporters Dylan Hernandez and Jack Harris who are now covering the Dodgers for the California Post, the Post has also landed longtime college sports reporter, Ben Bolch, from the Times who wrote a UCLA football column.

As a newspaper and sports junkie, I find the recent trend of some newspapers to diminish or eliminate sports coverage unwise. On a day to day level, sports offer both the excitement of anticipation and then results. Nothing else offers these and there is a vast audience for it. The stock market is dry, predictable and subject to analysis only after the fact when there is nothing more to say beyond “I told you so”.

Politics? Holy hatrack, Batman, that subject is simply too depressing to follow.

We know that something is wrong when we have to look to France or, forgive me,

Germany for sanity. And there are no more movie theatres. So, sports is all that there is. So let’s support the California Post while we have it.

Like the New York Post that runs the California Post, our version does not lack humility.

The January 27 opinion page starts like this: “In New York, the Post has shaped debates, exposed corruption, punctured spin, and given readers an unfiltered view of what their leaders are actually doing. California has needed that kind of institution for a long time. Now it finally has one.” If only.

We shall see.

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I have received a juvenile grammatically challenged anonymous email from something called “Lady Whistledown” sent from an email account using an apparent pseudonym of “Parvaneh Dardasti.” This email makes false defamatory comments about Board of Education members Marcus and Stern and at least one BHUSD parent. The same email account sent a version of the complaint filed by Daniel Lifschitz to all of the members of his law firm. Ironically, as some of you likely know, the word “Parvaneh” means “butterfly” in farsi and carries poetic and symbolic connotations of beauty, grace, transformation, and delicacy. The secret author(s) of these communications would seem to have none of these qualities.

Apart from the false and disrespectful nature of the content of the “Lady’s” communications, what troubles me the most is the sheer cowardice of this person or person. If you have something to say, say it openly and let us all know who you are.

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Councilmember John Mirisch’s request that the Los Angeles Superior Court order Beverly Hills Clerk Huma Ahmed and the City of Beverly Hills to allow Mr. Mirisch to appear on the June ballot so that he can pursue his candidacy for re-election will be heard by Judge Lisa Sepe-Wiesenfeld on February 23 in the Santa Monica courthouse. The City has refused to allow Mr. Mirisch to obtain or file nominating papers because the City’s three term limits rule precludes him from running for a fifth term. Mr. Mirisch does not contest the term limit rule but contends that terms served and completed prior to the enactment of term limits do not count toward the limit. I expect that the judge will resolve this issue and we will know shortly whether or not Mr. Mirisch will be allowed to run for re-election.